Tools For Sustainable Transportation

Protected Bike Lanes: safety and comfort for vulnerable street users

A protected bike lane is typically a collector street or arterial street bicycle facility that has a physical barrier between the bike way and the motor vehicle travel lanes. More than just a pained line, the physical barrier helps protect people that are riding bikes from getting hit by someone driving a car, helps convey feelings of safety and also creates sense of place by designing community to include active transportation. Protected bike lanes have immense potential for increasing safety and comfort of people that are already riding bicycles as well as inspiring and allowing more of the general population to choose a bicycle for everyday transportation.

Many studies, including ones done here in Missoula, show that a main reason the bicycle is not used more often is due to unsafe riding conditions. These unsafe riding conditions usually refer to the interaction between people biking and people driving.

MIST staff have spent considerable time riding and researching the Northern European bicycle networks. Arterial streets, in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Sweden, utilize protected bike lanes. In these countries, the protected bike lanes are called ‘cycle tracks’. We prefer the term ‘cycle track’, yet the term ‘protected bike lane’ is most often used in American engineering, planning and advocacy literature.

In the European countries with extensive protected bike lanes, the mode share for people that use bicycles is often 20% to 40%. This means that around 1/4 to 1/2 of all trips are done by bike. An average American city has a mode share of 2% to 4% for bicycle use. While there are several other factors that lead to higher bicycle usage in Northern Europe- such as more compact cities, mixed land uses and higher costs for driving- none the less the presence of protected bike lanes plays an important role in the ecosystem of mobility.

Over time, the MIST arc of advocacy has shifted in regards to the preferred arterial street bicycle facility. From our beginning in 1996, the striped bike lane seemed like the best way to proceed. The late 90’s saw us shift towards the cycle track, or ‘protected bike lane’. The reason for this shift was being able to see and use these protected bicycle facilities throughout Europe. Pushing for protected facilities seemed like swimming against the tide, however, as American engineers and advocacy groups promoted ‘share the road’ campaigns and leaned towards the ease and affordability of laying a 4” wide white stripe to mark space for bicycle riding. For several years, in the early 2000’s, we believed cars and bikes could share street space in close proximity, even on arterial streets.

Several reasons have us now firmly planted in the design camp for physical protection though. Less attentive driving and cars designed for power and speed is one main reason. A 4,000 pound piece of metal moving at 40 mph with a human on the inside is an immediate health and safety threat to the human on the outside of a 30 pound piece of metal moving at 15 mph. Driving distractions, from sources such as mobile phones and dashboard electronics, are too great to discount, disregard or ignore. A barrier between cars and bicycles on main streets seems quite necessary in today’s travel environment.

Another reason for our current strong advocacy push for protected lanes for people on bikes is the debris- mud, sludge, trash, metal scraps, toxic liquids, snow, ice, slush- that is continually swooshed into bike lanes from motor vehicles. A raised, protected bike lane that is more adjacent to the sidewalk effectively solves the issue of dirty and hazardous bike lanes, especially in the winter. A cleaner, safer bike way is an exciting proposition for bringing about a more equitable transportation system.

Missoula has two protected bike lanes within the urban area. Both have pros and cons and inform our community about the future of our main street circulation patterns. On a one-block section of Maurice, near the University of Montana campus, a two-way protected bike lane exists, on one side of the street. This short section of bikeway connects the campus with the riverfront trail system. The lessons from this section of street tell us that 2-way bike facilities on one side of the street can work, if: visibility by all modes is good, motor vehicles do not cross/intersect the 2-way bike facility (or the crossings are less than one per quarter mile and those crossings are well-marked, highly visible and slow speed), snow removal is timely, and that the purpose is to connect trails and land uses that primarily exist on one side of the street. A significant flaw exists with the Maurice protected bike lane: a cross street (6th street) intersects at too high of a speed.

Downtown Missoula has a three-block section of protected bike lanes, at the north end of Higgins Avenue. These bikeways were part of a larger project- a 4-lane to 3-lane conversion (also known as a ‘road diet’)- which made space available for the protected lanes to be installed. While these protected bike lanes have increased safety over the previous configuration (4 travel lanes, no bicycle facility), there are two improvements that are critically needed. One needed improvement is to better connect to protected bike lanes, urban trails and neighborhood greenways throughout the city. Our initiatives MASS and MUGS address this issue. We will continue to work with the community at large to improve bicycle and transportation infrastructure on a city-wide basis.

The second needed improvement is the intersection design. At the time of this N. Higgins Streetscape Improvement Project, in 2010, the protected bike lanes were one of the first to be installed anywhere in the United States. When the protected lanes reach the intersections with side streets, the lanes bend in towards Higgins, the main street. The thinking was that cars that are turning right at the intersections would better see people on bicycles that are traveling straight. While the intent of the design was thoughtful and safety-minded, the reality is that this design does not work well. It is unsettling, unnerving and feels unsafe for bikes to be pushed towards motor vehicles at the intersections. We strongly advocate for protected bike lanes to stay straight at intersections, or bend away from the main street. Keeping the protected bike lanes straight, or bent away from the main street, is considered the better practice in today’s bicycle engineering and advocacy world.

There are other ways to handle intersections, when installing protected bike lanes. One is to utilize the modern, single lane roundabout, and to have the protected bike lane travel around the roundabout, between the circulating lane for motor vehicles and the sidewalk for pedestrians. This is our preferred intersection treatment.

The other method is to utilize the ‘protected intersection’ design. This design entails the addition of a small bulb or bump that prevents drivers from taking the right turn at too fast a speed. The bulb or bump is often mountable, so that larger right-turning trucks can track over the bump if needed. Here is a link to that design, witch we believe to be an excellent video by Nick Falbo: protected intersections design and issues.

There are a few critiques of protected bike lanes that we will now address. One critique is that people on bikes are less visible, in general, to people driving, when the protected bike lanes are on the outside of any parked cars (the outside meaning nearer to the sidewalk). We fully understand this challenge and it is a main reason we revisited our advocacy position for protected bike lanes versus ‘regular’ bike lanes. However, with faster and larger cars and trucks, drivers that are more and more distracted, and with a greater portion of the population willing and wanting to ride a bike for everyday transportation (including children, our elders and the less experienced bike rider), we feel that a protected bike lane is the only safe and comfortable way to include bicycles on urban, arterial streets. We also believe that it is imperative to properly design the intersections and to continue with education and awareness initiatives so that everyone is cognizant of other street users.

Another critique is that left turns are harder for people on bikes when there is a physical barrier between the bike lane and the travel lane. There are several ways to address this challenge. One is to continue to allow bike riders to use the travel lane (we would not support any effort to disallow cyclists to use travel lanes). More experienced riders often travel close to the same speed as drivers, in an urban environment, so this solution seems very acceptable. Another solution is for the bike rider to do a two-stage left turn: proceed straight across an intersection, turn left and wait for a green light or a gap in traffic. Many people on bikes perform this 2-stage left turn even when on unprotected bike lanes. It can take a little more time to complete the left turn, yet safety seems higher. As mentioned before, a modern roundabout is another design solution to facilitate cooperation at intersections, and this especially includes the left turn.

The last critiques of protected bike lanes we will mention here are the associated extra costs and space requirements, when compared to unprotected bike lanes. Bicycle facilities have been vastly underfunded over the last several decades. As such, we can afford- as a community and as a society- to invest in facilities that are more inclusive and equitable and that also catalyze greener and cleaner methods of transport. The money for protected bike lanes exists- it is the community willpower that usually needs sparking.

A protected bicycle lane does not have to cost much money. In fact, we advocate for methods of protection that are low cost and have a low impact on the environment. Instead of concrete curbs or steel railing, we’d like to see more use of wood planters and natural landscaping. MIST has the facility to manufacture locally grown cycle protection, at the Free Cycles community bicycle shop.

Space exists for protected bike lanes. Retrofitting arterial streets is an exciting endeavor. Many travel lanes have been overbuilt at 12’ to 14’ wide, when 10’ in width is better for safety and naturally lowering speeds. Parking lanes are often overly wide too. Reducing travel lane widths and parking lane widths is a good method of city street retrofit for more equitable transportation- a method we have utilized often here in Missoula.

A lane reconfiguration is another way to gain space. A four-lane (two travel lanes in each direction) to three-lane (one travel lane in each direction with a center turn lane or a median with turn pockets) conversion, as was done on N. Higgins, is the most common travel lane reconfiguration. Transforming one 12’ wide travel lane for motor vehicles into two 6’ wide protected bike lanes can be an excellent urban transformation project. Trimming down a parking lane from 9’ to 8’ or from 8’ to 7’6” further helps gain space for better biking.

Another way to gain space for improved bicycle facilities is to remove parking on one side (or both) of an arterial street. With many parking lanes at 8’ in width, this technique is often combined with narrowing travel lane widths, in order to gain the needed space for bikeways on both sides of a street.

If the removal of car parking is to be considered, it is paramount to talk to property owners, to analyze existing parking patterns, to look at future land uses and to consider gaining parking spaces in other close-by locations. Several bike lanes have been added to Missoula arterials by removing parking on one or both sides of the street, including Arthur, South, Brooks and Bancroft. It is worth noting that the side of the street that parking is removed from can alternate. For instance, parking can be removed for two blocks on one side of the street, then be removed from the other side of the street for a few blocks, and so on. In fact, this can create interest in the way the street is redesigned and can calm traffic by not having perfectly straight drive and site lines.

We at MIST have often spent time knocking on doors to gauge interest in removing car parking in return for gaining safer bike facilities. On one project (Brooks St.), we found that 29 out of 34 homeowners were supportive with losing the parking in front of their homes in order for a bike lane to be striped. Two homeowners did not care one way or the other, one could not be reached and two were opposed to the idea. We presented these findings to the Missoula City Council and they then voted to remove parking on one side of the street and include bike lanes on both sides when the street was resurfaced. The result has worked very well for many years.

The space requirements for a well-designed bike lane is about the same for a well-designed protected bike lane. Both bicycle facilities need to have a buffer to account for the door zone of parked cars or for shy distance from moving motor vehicles. The only real change is that a protected bike lane has a physical barrier instead of a white painted stripe. The barrier can be a curb, a row of bollards, planter boxes, metal railing, wood fence posts or so much more. The barrier does not have to be so strong that it would stop a distracted driver with a runaway vehicle from ever encroaching on the bike way.

The striking visual pattern of the barrier that defines most protected bike lanes is generally enough to make drivers pay attention and to slow down. Narrowing the street width is very effective at naturally slowing speeds of drivers. In fact, a large drawback of getting on-street striped bike lanes is that the extra width tends to speed up drivers, making the street less safe for all.

Costs for protected bike lanes vary, as there are many variables and factors that determine the price tag. With our desire and affinity towards green and natural materials, our preference for the barrier is more along the lines of flower planters, wooden fences, and linear gardens- utilizing local materials, local labor and local imagination

Missoula has an adopted policy goal to halve auto trips and triple walk, bike and transit trips, over the next couple decades. An arterial street system with protected bike lanes can go a long way towards realizing that goal, as well as giving safety and comfort to the many people in Missoula that already rely on pedaling a bicycle for everyday transportation.